Many floor and street cleaning machines employ floor assemblies which include scrubber brushes or polishing pads which may be connected to rotating motor drives. The motor drives are typically oriented along, and rotate about, a substantially vertical axis. The floor assemblies are secured to a lower portion of the motor drives to allow the brushes or polishing pads to contact the floor. Scrubber brush assemblies commonly include a rigid disc-shaped member having bristles extending from one side thereof and an assembly for interconnecting the disc-shaped member with the motor drive. Similarly, polishing pad assemblies commonly include a rigid disc-shaped member connectable with the motor drive and having an assembly for connecting a polishing pad thereto.
To facilitate even wear on the floor contact surface of the floor assembly, it is desirable to maintain substantially constant contact between the floor contact surface and the floor while the cleaning machine is in operation. In this regard, it is desirable to allow the floor assembly to shift its axis of rotation relative to the axis of rotation of the motor drive to compensate for inclines or other deviations from the plane of the surface being cleaned. Further, it is desirable that the floor assembly have a geometric configuration which facilitates maintaining substantially even pressure on the floor contact surface of the cleaning assembly.